Dustin Haisler, Chief Innovation Officer of e.Republic, a California-based state and local government media and research company, appeared on GoLocal LIVE to talk about the role of technology in government, ahead of his appearance at the #BIF2017 Summit in Providence next week.

Haisler - who pioneered government use of commercial technologies such as Quick-Response (QR) barcodes, crowdsourcing, and gamification - talked with GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle about government technology in the face of disaster -- including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Haisler's Perspective

"People will come together and create new ways of organizing and doing things," said Haisler. "A lot of things government puts in place...will fail. In the case Harvey, you saw the rise of things we couldn't expect in the public sector. Take Zello, a kind of walkie talkie app that even first responders used."

"Tech empowers anyone to find ways they can aid in these initiatives," said Haisler. "Government needs to be cognizant that they can't control all the platforms - you have to rely on ad-hoc networks popping up, and that's a good thing."